double banana crepe cake

Author Notes

Crepes, banana cream filling, topped with caramelized bananas... yum. Although some recipes for crepe batter indicate a rest over night in the refrigerator before cooking, I actually don't do it and never have had a problem. Since sautéed bananas tend to look less than elegant, due to the sticky toffee aftermath of the heat and sugar treatment, simply top with sour cream or creme fraiche. It not only makes the dish look better, but it also gives a tangy note to offset the sweetness. So good. —navahfrost

Makes
1 10-inch crepe cake

Ingredients

Banana cream filling

2
bananas, ripe please

1 cup
half and half

1.5 tablespoons
cornstarch

1/3 cup
sugar

2 tablespoons
butter

3
egg yolks

pinch
salt

crepe batter and sautéed bananas

1 cup
all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups
whole milk

2
eggs

2 tablespoons
sugar

1 teaspoon
vanilla

1 tablespoon
melted butter

pinch
salt

3
bananas

1/4 cup
brown sugar

2 tablespoons
salted butter

sour cream or creme fraiche for garnish

2 teaspoons
rum

In This Recipe

Directions

Set butter aside and leave on counter to come to room temperature. Blend all the remaining ingredients for the banana creme filling together with immersion blender or regular blender until smooth.

Cook blended ingredients over double boiler until thickened. Whisk constantly. The banana filling should be sort of pudding-like in consistency after about 10-12 minutes. Off heat, whisk in the butter and put in the refrigerator to cool.

Make Crepes: Blend flour, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and melted butter together. Using a non-stick 10-inch crepe pan, make crepes, using about 1/3 cup of batter for each one. Make sure to tilt and tip the pan around right away as you put the batter in the pan. Stack crepes on a plate until the batter is used up. Cool crepes in refrigerator.

Make sautéed bananas: melt salted butter over medium heat in saute pan with brown sugar and rum, let it bubble a bit and add bananas, sliced into rounds. Cook for around 8-10 minutes, making sure not to let the sugar burn.

Stack the crepes: when filling and crepes have cooled, take a plate and spread about a tablespoon of filling over the entire surface. Stack a crepe on top of that and continue filling and stacking. Chill in the refrigerator to set for around an hour. Top with sautéed bananas and sour cream or creme fraiche.

Notes:
The filling recipe makes more than you will need. You can either eat the leftovers plain, mixed with yogurt or whipped cream, or save it to fill another cake (of any kind) or freeze it and make it into great popsicles. You could also make a double batch of crepes and make a much more significant looking dessert which would use all the filling up!